"Oh my God!"
                         

     "Peter and the Star Catcher" snagged five Tony Awards in 2012. These included Tonys for Sound as well as Costume, Scenic and Lighting Design.  Christian Borle received the Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.


     This long awaited production, which begins its national tour at The Ellie Caulkins Opera House has a first act that's a fizzling dud followed by the most exquisitely opulent, hilarious and enchanting second act imaginable. One can't help wondering if Act Two had not been the play in toto at one time and that someone felt it needed to be longer for a Broadway audience and tacked on what is now Act One.

     The actors are magnificent in their ability to create clear characterization while delivering the superb word-smithing of playwright Rick Elice with crisp well enunciated elocution. The precision of their stage movement is stunning.


     Act One of "Peter and the Star Catcher" provides us as audience with the back story to the prequel to James Barrie’s “Peter Pan” which is really found in Act Two. Thank heaven you stayed in your seat for the second act. At the top of Act Two the colorless reality of Act One shifts dramatically to a lush exotic shimmering blue and green fantasia of set and lighting, fabulously funny acting and innovative theatricality that astounds. Bring a pillow for Act One and get set to be dazzled after Intermission.

     The cast is a delight to a man/woman and John Sanders steals the show as Black Stache with outrageously funny physical comedy, impeccable timing and a litany of “Oh My Gods” you will never forget.

Worth a peek.Marlowe's Musings

Offending the audience

Germinal Stage Denver: 8/9 – 8/2

     By turns annoying, boring, uninteresting, interesting, puzzling and exhilarating, “Offending the Audience” is the perfect choice for Germinal Stage Denver’s swan song. “Conceived and administered” by Ed Baierlein the show features a huge cast of actors who have peopled the shows at GSD for decades. In case you may have forgotten their names each member of the cast has a big white card with his name on it hanging from a string around his neck. The actors move into, around and through the audience reciting lines with very little expression. Many times another actor somewhere else in the space echoes the line. For much of the show the house lights are on and so the patron gets to watch his fellow theatergoers as well.

     Among other things this production is a reunion of colleagues and cohorts that allows not only a great number of the actors from the past to come together in celebration but also allows those who have peopled the audience over the years to participate as well. 

     It's not offensive!

PLAYING FOR THREE WEEKENDS ONLY

THROUGH AUGUST 25TH

FRIDAY, 8:00, $21.75

SATURDAY, 8:00, $23.75

SUNDAY, 7:00, $19.75

Preview Season Tickets accommodated August 9, 10, 11,

including matinee, August 10, 2:00

A subscription offering. Replaces MARAT/SADE on our original season schedule.

LIMITED SEATING - RESERVE NOW!

 303.455.7108Marlowe's Musings

                        In the Heights

                       Vintage Theatre: 8/2 – 9/8

                        

            “In the Heights” rocks!

     In 2008 this musical won Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations. It won the Grammy for Best Musical Show album and was nominated for The Pulitzer Prize.

      Rebecca Joseph’s direction of Vintage Theatre Productions’ “In the Heights” is fast-paced and impeccably cast.

     As the rapping narrator and owner of the barrio’s bodega stand, Alejandro Roldan is a superb Usnavi. His love interest Vanessa is played by the very fetching Janessa O’Fallon.

     Jenny Moll Reyes performance in the role of Nina Rosario, the first member of her family to go to college, enchants.

     Vincent Smith’s portrayal of Benny, the dispatch guy who falls in love with Nina, is most memorable.

     Robert Payo’s portrayal of Kevin Rosario, Nina’s overprotective father is very well acted and sung.

     Arlene Rapal gives Nina’s mother Camila a strong confident reading. Her singing of “Enough” is powerful and elicited huge applause from the opening night audience.

      Marisa Dannielle Hebert’s Abuela Claudia endears. Her singing of “Paciencia y Fe” (“Patience andFaith”) is indelible.

                                             

                                                    Alejandro Roldan and Marisa Dannielle Hebert

      Amy Luna is a fiery and funny Daniela!

     Asad Clinton (Graffiti Pete) is an eye-catching dancer whose smooth moves provide a seductive thread.

    Out of the blue the piraguas are delivered with vocal prowess by Jacob Villareal. The ensemble is full of talented musical actors including: Carlos Jimenez, Terra Salazar,Gabriel Morales and Brandon Lopez. These talented singers are led by musical director Midge McMoyer Smith.

      Matt La Fontaine delivers flashy choreography, which is danced with passion by this enthusiastic young cast. Colin Roybal’s scenic design works beautifully. Davis Sibley’s costumes are spot on.

Vintage Theatre presents

"In the Heights"

Three generations of Latino immigrants dream of success in America while holding onto their culture and heritage.

Aug 2 – Sept 1
Fri/Sat at 7:30 p.m.; Sun at 2:30 p.m.

$30 ($25 advance)
303-856-7830 or online at www.vintagetheatre.com

Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora 80010

 Marlowe's Musings

                              Sordid Lives

              Illumination Theatre Productions: 7/26 – 8/17

                 
            Todd Black Emma Messenger, LuAnn Buckstein and Shahara Ostrand

                     “Sordid Lives” is a Tacky Party with a Heart of Gold!

     And whether you want to admit it or not, beneath all the slapstick and the broad strokes of humor there is a truly beautiful piece of social commentary on the need for love and acceptance and equal rights for gay men and women the world over.

     Playwright Del Shores has chosen a moment in which the matriarch of a Suthuhn family of great dysfunction dies to begin his very funny black comedy. Sissy(Todd Black) is tryin’ her best to stop smokin’ with the aid of a rubber band snap to the wrist every time the temptation arises. At the top of the play Noleta (Emma Messenger) is bringin’ in her casserole and cryin’ like a rat eatin’ onions. Then we get introduced to the other very colorful family members.

     Standouts are Matthew Link as Ty, Latrelle’s actor son who is finally coming to terms with his sexual orientation and Kevin Leonard as Brother Boy, the gay son who was institutionalized by this bunch of nut cakes twenty three years ago because of his penchant for transvestism. Mr. Link gets to hand us the beating heart of the show as Mr. Leonard tears up our funny bones. Leonard’s scene with Dr. Eve (Boni McIntyre) in which he fights off the repulsive idea of dehomosexualization is a hoot! The cast also includes local favorites LuAnn Buckstein, Boni McIntyre, and Patrick Brownson.

     Del Shores has a real handle on the homophobia that courses through the veins of conservative redneck religionists. Given his eye and ear for the religious bigotry and ignorance in Texas family values you can be pretty well assured that a very fun ‘outing’ is awaiting you at The John Hand Theatre.

     If the production is a little rough around the edges technically speaking you will forgive all as soon as director Bernie Cardell and this shamelessly funny cast hit your funny bone at full tilt!

     There’s nothin’ like a wacky, tacky black comedy to make you forget the tragic events of workin’ at the office all week. This play will mind erase every trace of office mayhem and melodrama and comes highly recommended for this reason.

     

July 26 through August 17 at 7:30 pm at the John Hand Theater, 7653 E. 1st Place, Denver, CO 80230.Marlowe's Musings

House of Blue Leaves

The Edge Theatre Company: 7/19 – 8/11

                 

                   Top to Bottom: Kelly Uhlenhoop, Tom Auclair and Missy Moore (photo credit Rachel Graham RDG Photography)

     Playwright John Guare set his play “The House of Blue Leaves” in 1965 in Queens on the day that Pope Paul VI came to visit New York City. It’s a richly layered black comedy whose main character is a zookeeper who dreams of success as a Hollywood song writer. His wife Bananas is a schizophrenic who, over medicated to the point that she can feel nothing, is destined for a mental institution.

             Guare’s play is a sometimes funny/sometimes tragic kaleidoscopic vision of a number of diverse realities colliding on that day in 1965.

     Tom Auclair as the wannabe song writer turns in a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Auclair is a very fine actor who is finally being seen in a part that showcases his artistic talent. Bravo!

      Missy Moore is outstanding as the schizophrenic wife who is struggling to regain her former self and her former feeling nature. Her intentionally pathetic appearance includes dull stringy hair and a body language that reflects bi-polar to the max. Missy Moore’s performance is bar none the most exquisitely heartfelt performance of the new season. For this reason alone you should run to get tickets.

     Kelly Uhlenhoop is outrageously hilarious as Bunny, the romantic interest outside the marriage providing all the wifely duties except one...cooking! Ms. Uhlenhop proves that she really knows how to make an entrance…and then hold the intentionally over the top comedic energy of this character solidly throughout the show.

      Zack Page turns in a passionate monologue with brio and assuredness.

     Samara Bridwell provides infectious fun in her portrayal of a hearing impaired actor who finds it difficult navigating the waters of this odd collection of characters.

     Director Scott Bellot has not only cast the show impeccably, his pacing allows for the humor inherent in Mr. Guare’s script to blossom, flower and explode right on schedule. In director Bellot’s capable hands the integration of these characters and their individual dreams unifies into such an incredibly nonlinear whole that it becomes a very strong hologram descriptive of this single specific day in New York. 

The Edge Theatre

"The House of Blue Leaves"

July 19 - Aug 4

Thurs. (beginning July 25); Fri./Sat. @ 8 p.m.; Sun. @ 6 p.m.

Tickets: $22 adult / $18 student & seniors

*303-232-0363 or online at www.theedgetheater.com.

*The Edge Theatre, 1560 Teller Street, Suite 200, Lakewood CO 80214. Free Parking.Marlowe's Musings

Curtains

Arvada Center: 7/5 – 7/28

   “Curtains,”the whodunit musical comedy by Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, Grand Hotel), is currently knocking em dead at Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities.  The musical numbers are sensational and the cast is full of the best musical talent in town.

     As Carmen Bernstein the producer of “Robbing Hood,” the not yet ready for Broadway show within the show, Megan Van De Hey delivers an outrageously well-acted and sung performance. When the over the top dud of a diva, Jessica Cranshaw, played superbly by Mercedes Perez, is murdered it seems the show may have hope. Nevertheless…a plethora of glitches continues to plague this production as detective Frank Cioffi (Jim Poulos)… makes the entire cast stay on the premises while he grills each actor to find the murderer.

     Jeff Roark turns in a performance that’s full of deliciously sung ballads including a magnificent rendition of “I Miss the Music.”
                            
Left to right: Colin Alexander, Megan Van De Hey, Jeffrey Roark and Lauren Shealy. Photo P. Switzer

      Colin Alexander is a stitch as Christopher Belling, the harried director. His character has all the best lines and he delivers them flawlessly.

     Besides the aforementioned actors some of the musical theater actors standing out in a cast that is across the board FABOO are: Erica Sweany, Lauren Shealy, Mark Rubald, Scott Severtson,  and Michael Gold. 

     This reviewer thought that “Curtains” would have a rod (Get it?) Lansberry director’s credit. Not so! This time it’s director Gavin Mayer who’s responsible for the superior casting and hilarious break-neck pacing.

     Clare Henkel’s costumes, especially those created for Ms. Van de Hey, are stunning!

     The music direction by David Nehls – he also appears briefly in a very funny moment on stage! – is the professional work Denver audiences have come to expect of him.

     The choreography by Kitty Skillman HIlsabeck is exhilarating.

     The score is delightfully infectious and you will want to run out and buy the original Broadway cast CD if you don’t have it already.

     “Curtains” is full of hysterical gags and beautifully drawn theatrical stereotypes. If you’re even the slightest bit savvy about the world of the theatre you will be buckled over with laughter. It’s a flawless evening that will have you humming the tune for the scrum diddly musical number, “Show People” at final er “Curtain.”

For tickets go to www.arvadacenter.org or call 720-898-7200.
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Minimum Wage

The Avenue Theatre: 6/21 – 8/3

     When you go to see “Minimum Wage,” being touted as “a rip roaring a Capella musical comedy directed by Nick Sugar” please know that you’re applying for a job in the wonderful world of fast food. And like the burgers these soda jerks flip you will be grilled at final curtain. That’s right. There’s a test.

     The cast of pickle slicers and high tech griddle technicians is very fine indeed. It includes: Michael Bouchard, Keegan C. Flaugh, Damon Guerrasio, Abby McInerney and Carter Edward Smith.

     Damian  Guerrasio is especially good with his machine gun patter about “Hamburgerology”. Michael Bouchard is in fine voice and a whirlwind of creative energy. The whole cast delivers a seemingly limitless variety of sly winks and grins as each and all do everything in their power to gain our indulgence for this cheesy fast-paced romp. Keegan C. Flaugh appears in one scene as Kookie the clown, a somewhat thinly veiled homage to Ronald Mc you know who. Ms. McInerney and Mr. Smith come to this musical after appearing in the critically acclaimed production of “Hair” also directed and choreographed by Mr. Sugar.

     The singing of the a Capella tunes is AWESOME! The music is ear-popping throughout and to quote the lyricist “as infectious as a yeast infection.”

     The harmonies are delightful and one supposes that the very young at Art will find the evening especially entertaining.

     The choreography by Mr. Sugar is as goofy as the cartoon French fries and smiley-faced hot dogs adorning Tina Anderson’s Happy Burger scenic design.

                                 

Left to right: Keegan C. Flaugh, Michael Bouchard, Abby McInerney and Carter Edward Smith

     There are several nuggets of humor served up in this offering. However … to paraphrase burger boys and girls the world over the book for this musical is 'a few fries short of the proverbial happy meal.’

     The songs near final curtain start to feel as though the show might have had a brain had the writers started with them and then super-sized them. 

     In a nutshell the show really cuts the mustard musically. Just remember to turn your brain off when you silence your cell phone.

For tickets call the Avenue Theatre Box Office: 303-321-5925

Or go online at avenuetheater.com

The Avenue Theatre is located at 417 East 17^th Avenue, Denver, ColoradoMarlowe's Musings